Moving On

As most of you know, for the past few weeks we have been praying and waiting for the men of Qhochumi to call us, asking that our guys would come back and continue to share stories from God’s Word. They have not called and we can wait no longer. We are, of course, feeling sad, disappointed, hurt, and disillusioned. But we know that God has called us here. We know that He is in charge of this work. And we know that there are others in the province that He called us to waiting to hear His message. Please pray for our team as we attempt to move on; as we follow God’s leading in how to do that. As soon as possible, our team will head out to an area called Ravelo, where we will investigate where to invest our time next.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. Please continue to pray for the people of Qhochumi. We have not shut the door on the work there and pray that God will allow us to see the fruit of His work.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”   
                                                    Isaiah 55:9-11

Lies, Lies, Lies

The other night at our Halloween party, some of our friends hadn’t seen upstairs in our house and asked to see it. I said, sure, having forgotten what a mess it was. I had cleaned downstairs were everyone was congregated but didn’t have time to devote to upstairs. When we went up I was so embarassed. The bed wasn’t made, there were books and papers strewn all over our office, and we haven’t been able to have curtains made yet, so old sheets hang over our windows.

As a team we have all been learning that, if we have problems with each other, the longer we keep that problem hidden, the bigger the problem seems. It grows and grows into misunderstandings and miscommunications. But as soon as we open up to one another and bring everything into the light, we realize that Satan has been using that small problem to create lies in our minds the can create huge barriers between us.

I have even found that personally, when I am dealing with a problem alone, it grows and grows.  As soon as I share it with another believer, I soon realize that most of what I was dealing with was a lie, a trick that had been playing in my head. As soon as I say it, I either realize that I have been believing lies, or the other believer points out the truth to me.

I think too many times we brush things under the carpet, avoid people, and hide in our own little worlds. But we were never meant to live like this. We were meant to live in the light. We were meant to confess, confront, encourage, and hold each other accountable. We weren’t meant to live as individuals but as a body. We were meant to need each other, but in order to do that we have to live like we need each other. We have to open up and show each other all of the mess.

Back to my story from the beginning. A couple of days later I was visiting with my friends who had seen my messy upstairs. I confessed at how embarassed I was and assured them that I had cleaned up since then. “No, we talked about it later,” one of them said, “We were so relieved to see that other people live like we do.”

What would happen if we opened up to other believers and showed them our mess? How much more might they open up to us? And how many lies that we have been believing for so long might get swept away when brought to the light?

A Lighter Fare

I have a lot of blogs floating around in my head, but I thought I’d lighten things up with something I thought some of you might find interesting. It is surprising what you can find here in Bolivia and what you can’t. Some things that I would think that I would never be able to find are easily accessible and other things I never imagined that people live without are missing. I am slowly forgetting the things I miss from back home and everytime my mom asks what she can send or bring, I find it more difficult to think of things. I’ve gotten used to making the things I really want from scratch (I never, ever thought I would do that). Here are some things you might find interesting.

Things that are easily available:

-peanut butter (creamy and crunchy)
-american, cheddar, and mozzarella cheese
-a good variety of cereal (we have come to really like the local brands)
-lunch meat (although turkey is really hard to find)
-Snickers, M&Ms, and Twix bars

Things that you can’t get:

-chocolate chips (who would’ve thought?)
-anything premade (like cake mixes, box meals, frozen meals)
-a good variety of chips (the local ones are just okay)
-soft loaves of bread (what you find here is more like toast)
-premade dough (canned biscuits, canned cinammon rolls, which is maybe what I miss the most)
-anything Mexican; Bolivian food is nothing like Mexican food. We miss it! (you can find stale tasting tortillas, canned jalepenos, and occasionally canned refried beans, but it’s not the same)

New and exciting things we can get:

-Dr. Pepper and Root Beer (in cans! all the other soft drinks come in bottles, about $1 a can though)
-Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
-New brands of Imported Cereals like Cheerios, Pops, Cinammon Toast Crunch (but since they’re about $9 a box, I kind of wish they weren’t here to tempt me)

And the number one thing you can find anywhere, even in some of the most remote villages is: Coca-Cola!

Racism Runs Deep

One thing I have seen in the few cultures I have come into contact with is that not one of them is exempt from racism. It is an ugly and natural part of our flesh. Even in the most remote areas, or I might say especially in the most remote areas, anything different is wrong. If you look or act different, you are stereotyped to be a certain way. Even our Latin guys, who look much more Quechua than we ever will in color and stature, are labeled because they are different.

We as a team have tried everything we can do to convey that we respect the Quechua culture, from dressing like them to trying to observe the most minute details. But racism is a hard thing to overcome. I can see their point of view in a lot of respects. If anyone knows anything about racism, it is the Quechua culture. They have been tricked and looked down upon throughout history. But even those who have not been exposed to that have a natural tendency to reject what is different from themselves.

Nature or nurture, it is disgusting to think what racism has done throughout history and still does all over the world. Here is a clear and shocking example. The other day Trent and Roberto, our Argentine team member, were walking through our neighborhood. An older Quechua man unashamedly pointed to them and told some young kids, “Look, they eat kids. That’s why they’re so big.” What will those kids tell their kids when they grow up? How are we to reach a people who think of us like this? Yes, racism runs pretty deep.

Party!

I have learned that the things that get to me here are the little things. Every now and then something just hits me wrong and I miss home. Saturday morning I woke up sad, because it was a holiday. I was thinking about everything back home from fall festivals to trick-or-treaters. Halloween is a big deal here too, but for different reasons. Even though it is something little, it really got to me. I had no costume for Jack and I had no motivation to get one.

Just when I was at my lowest, a little boy came to the door and left a note saying that trick-or-treaters would be coming to our house that night. I got such a burst of energy that I decided we were going to have a party. We went out and found a costume for Jack, bought some candy, and started calling all of our friends. A few hours later, we had a house full of people, pumpkin cookies, trick-or-treaters at our door, and a little policeman who just wanted to go to bed. We had a great time.

Some Good News

Thank you all so much for praying and for your encouraging words through emails or blog posts. Please continue to pray for us and the team as this is just a downright discouraging time for our ministry right now.

I thought I would take a break from all of the bad news to give you some good news. We found out that we are having a little girl! Several weeks ago during the sonogram the doctor said he thought it was a boy but that it was too early to be sure. But we started calling the baby ”him” and it kind of became a “he” in our minds. So we were so surprised when he told us it is definitely a girl. Now that the surprise has worn off, we are getting so excited thinking that we are going to have a little girl!

Tired

We had to go to Cochabamba last week to start on our two-year visa work. Yes, our one-year visa is already almost up and it is time to start again. This time seems to be much easier though. We decided to take the guys with us and have a little mini retreat for the team. It was wonderful just to get to be together some and let them relax. We tried to act as their parents would and take care of every little detail so they didn’t have to worry about anything. We ate alot, prayed together, talked about the Lord, discussed the issues in Qhochumi, and laughed a lot.

Yesterday we made the drive back, but because we heard of a roadblock on our normal route, we had to take the long way around. The trip took almost 12 hours. Jack is a wonderful traveler, but 12 hours was pushing it, even for him. Today I am just exhausted. With fatigue often comes discouragement. We still haven’t received a call from Qhochumi. Simon tried to encourage us by saying that they probably haven’t been able to figure out how to make a phone call using a calling card. This is not a normal part of their lives. But somehow thinking that a miscommunication is getting in the way isn’t helping me feel any better.

I was thinking today about two or three other sets of missionaries who have worked with the Quechua people and had the same types of problems. I’m not sure if this makes me feel better or worse either. What can we do to reach these people? When will the time come?

Not for Lack of Prayer

We are still waiting for the call. The guys think it will come this weekend when some of the men normally go to larger towns that have phones.

Thanks again for all of your prayers. We are amazed to see how God has called so many to pray for so few. It is really a beautiful demonstration of how God loves each of us. Here are a few prayer stories.

Some of you may remember that about a year ago one of the leaders of our mission, Ed, came down to see the work that is going on here and went on a trip out to Qhochumi with Efrain and Graham. The w0rk was just beginning then in Qhochumi. Ed is the prayer coordinator for the mission and has been such a prayer advocate for us. He has been planning to speak at the home church of one of our new Xtreme Team girls, Amy. Of course, a lot of his focus would be on our team. He was one of the first to respond to my prayer request emails saying that he was speaking at Amy’s church that very night and that they would be praying.

Roberto wasn’t able to talk to his home church until they got back into town. One of the men there said he had a dream that Roberto was having problems and that he had been praying fervently for him and the work.

A friend from a church back home emailed and said Monday morning she was sharing our struggles with a fellow coworker who is also a believer. Her coworker doesn’t know us and had no idea what was going on. But over the weekend she felt the need to pray for the missionaries who were having problems.

The men of Qhochumi can hardly see past their little mountain village. They have no idea how big the world is or that God is calling people from all over it to pray for them. How great is the love of Christ.

Qhochumi Update

Saturday Trent and Simon met our three guys, Roberto, Efrain, and Javier, in a larger, neighboring community to find them feeling discouraged, helpless, and sad. They all discussed what they should do and decided to head to Qhochumi early the next day, Sunday, to talk with the men of the community and find out what their real intentions are.

Along the way Trent was praying that the men would already be meeting, knowing this hardly ever happens, but asking God for it anyway. They had left a little later than expected and thought that the men would already be in their fields. Instead they found them just breaking up from a town meeting. All of the men in the community were there except for one.

After some small talk, they began to clearly share with the men that the guys weren’t there just to work, but that their main purpose there was to teach them about God. All the time Simon was making things very clear in Quechua so that there was no miscommunication. Immediately all of the men began to talk and say how much they had messed up. “Why didn’t we make more time to hear about God?” they were saying. From Simon’s Quechua perspective, he was surprised that the men so quickly and openly admitted their fault.

Celedonio was being quiet and when they finally had a chance to talk to him, he confessed that he had gotten confused. His bull died earlier that week and he took it as a sign that maybe he shouldn’t get baptized and shouldn’t follow Christ. He was open about the fact that he is still confused, but said he still wanted to hear Bible stories.

Even though the men were insistent that they want the guys to be there and that they want to hear the stories, Trent told them to think about it without them there. If they are still interested after some thought, they are to call us. This will take some sacrifice on their part as they will have to walk to get to a phone.

So we wait and pray.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. Please continue to pray. Trent said it was humbling standing before these dozen men thinking about how many people are praying for this one little mountain community. Thank you so much for caring, praying, and journeying alongside of us. We can’t tell you how much it means.

Urgent Prayer Request

As many of you know, the main community where our team has been working for the past year and a half is a small village called Qhochumi. A few months back, the guys told the first story that included baptism in it and our “man of peace,” Celedonio, soon after told them that he wanted to get baptized, without even being asked. When the guys tried to make his request a reality, he began to make excuses as to why he couldn’t do it that day, putting it off further and further.

We prayed that this trip Celedonio would put aside all of his hesitations and be baptized along with some other members of the community who have been listening to the stories. However, the guys called this morning and things are not going well. Celedonio told them he is not interested in the stories anymore and doesn’t want to change. The other families that have been learning the stories are working our guys like slaves and don’t seem to be interested anymore either.

Trent and our Quechua friend, Simon, have gone to meet the guys, encourage them, and assess the situation. As you can imagine, we are all confused, discouraged, and sad. What is God’s plan in all of the this? Why would we see God working through His word this whole time only for it to end in nothing?

Please pray for Trent and Simon as they travel and for our guys, Javier, Roberto, and Efrain, who are very, very discouraged.